Living Alive!
Princess Bride, Wesley was not completely dead just mostly dead, we must all be alive
Theological short: The Body of Christ; Living Alive
1 Cor 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Col 2:10 …in Christ you have been brought to fullness…
What does it mean to say that the church is the body of Christ? How are we Full?
Living Alive means living in something greater!
Some people live with spouses to just get along, live with Christ to get to heaven, but we are in Christ
Eph 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus...
The church doesn’t consist of individual believers who collectively are with Him
At salvation, we are incorporated with all other believers into Christ, and together
Like a bear swimming across the water with alligators
Living Alive means living dependent for who we are!
John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches... apart from me you can do nothing.
Our dependence is not interdependence; the head analogy breaks down here
No one will say you need me, God, I am your body, all dependence is ours
As Christ is over all things as well as the church, he is not dependent on the church
It has been said that Christ has no feet but ours and no hands but our hands
It is true we are dependent on him for his fullness extends beyond us
The church although the body of Christ is not without sin while here on earth
Our dependence is for his fullness, holiness, and glory to continue to fill us
Living Alive means living interdependently on His body!
The church exists to do the full and complete will of the head Christ, not worldly
Rom 12:5 …in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
There is equality among all church members; belonging
We are interdependent on one another; belonging
One part cannot say I have no need for that other part; no privatized Christianity
There is no private kind of faith that isolates us from one another
We cannot believe or follow the idea of Jesus yes! Church NO!
No vertical relationship to Christ that does not also contain the horizontal to others
It is never; I became a Christian now should I join the church; NO, you just did.
This means we must be involved with a local body of believers
7 churches in Rev, 5 had words of criticism directed to them, others persecution
Staying out of a local church is far worse than an active in church with negative
Living Alive means living to serve others!
We all have gifts that must function in the body, to fulfill the direction of Christ
Just as Christ was a servant to all so we as the church must be servants to all
Luke 22:27 I am among you as one who serves.
Christ was a servant to physical needs, emotional, and spiritual needs.
He was a place of healing, so we must be a house of healing
Living Alive means living the law of Christ!
Gal 6:1 teaches that we must restore others gently, for those who live by Spirit
But what does restore mean, how do we restore others?
Gal 6:2 Carry each other’s burdens in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
We are to carry their failure their shame, not boasting we have not sinned
Puritans made it very hard to sin, and easy to repent, we now do the opposite
Are you carrying their criticism or are you carrying their cross?
Restore means to mend their wounds, that is the power of the body of Christ